Monday, September 14, 2015

Donald Trump: All Surface, No Substance

Image from source, The Daily Banter

Since Donald Trump finally stopped crying wolf, and actually ran for president (after decades of toying with the press), he has been both at the top of the GOP polls, and in the rundown of every cable news show, every day. And while some programs, mostly liberal ones like The Rachel Maddow Show or The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell may point out that the emperor has no clothes, mostly the media just covers Trump being Trump. Transcription and video playback, devoid of any context beyond polling; jockeying for position in the horse race. And of course, he's out in front. Bigly.

What is largely missing outside of those liberal shows is that there is virtually no substance to Trump. It's all P.T. Barnum, no circus. The best they can usually do, is go on about how tired the populace is of "politics as usual," and that Trump offers something different. It extends to the milder support for Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson. None has ever held elected office, or has any particular expertise at politics. People are so thirsty for something different, they'll drink the sand. But--as we learned in The American President, they don't drink the sand because they're thirsty, they drink the sand because they don't know the difference. Trump, in particular, offers nothing but sand.

In recent months, I've allowed this blog to get rather thin, and that is largely because my former fervor to rage against modern American politics turned to something akin to apathy. I mean, what can you do, when the average Trump voter is absolutely impervious to reason? When he can say something outrageous, something that would disqualify any other candidate, and his followers will defiantly shout that they DON'T CARE, that it only makes them like him more? When the cult of personality is so strong, that he can defy even their supposedly most cherished "deal breaker" positions, and remain popular? It's even worse when the fact is, I've despised Donald Trump (or at least his public persona) for decades. I find his current popularity as appalling as I would if he were a member of the Kardashian clan, or from any of their innumerable spinoffs. It almost feels like after this is over, Andy Cohen should be having a Real Candidates of the GOP reunion show.

But my apathy as a citizen hobbyist blogger should not extend to the actual press. They shouldn't be falling down so spectacularly on the job. There couldn't be an easier candidate to trounce for misstatements, mistruths, gaffes and pratfalls. They're quite simply not doing their jobs. And I haven't seen that explained very well, until I read the following excerpted column by personal favorite Bob Cesca. Please give it a read.

[Excerpt]Sorry, Folks, Ignoring Donald Trump Won’t Make Him Go Away". . .For its part, the traditional press is only doing half its job, so I understand the frustration with the Trump coverage. Yes, it’s perfectly acceptable for print and cable news to relentlessly highlight all of Trump’s nincompoopery. He’s dangerous in so many ways, with long-term repercussions that could irreversibly poison the discourse. So the coverage is mandatory.What the press isn’t doing, however, is putting the nincompoopery into the proper context. Simply reporting on Trump’s horrendous comments and substance-free exclamatory remarks about how much “winning” he’ll be responsible for is only half the story. At the risk of inciting cries of “liberal media bias,” the press has a responsibility to underscore that presidential-level politicians shouldn’t behave like this — that Trump is nothing more than a well-paid YouTube commenter who’s been thrust into a position that’s too damn close to the Oval Office. . . .